


Messages from the Deep

by Vinnocent



Series: Teen Titans: Morph! [9]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, DCU, Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Book 4: The Message, Episode: s01e08 Deep Six, Ethics, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-23
Updated: 2014-04-23
Packaged: 2018-01-20 11:31:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1508918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinnocent/pseuds/Vinnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Animorphs request help from the Titans after receiving the pleas for help of an Andalite trapped underwater. The Andalite, however, is not the only even in the sea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Who? Who are you?!” the captain demands of the strange creature aboard his ship. An almost reptilian creature stands before him with glowing yellow eyes, holding a trident of all things.

“I am excellence,” says the creature. “I am perfection. I am Trident!”

<You are on my boat.>

The creature turns and spies another, far more grotesque beast behind it. This so-called Trident hardly has time to scream before it is swallowed whole.

\-- --

“Dreams?” repeated ~~Robin~~ Nightwing.

The squirrel and the red-tailed hawk each nodded. The spotted cat was napping out in the sun, the golden retriever was sitting attentively but looked bored for a dog, and the osprey was openly snoozing.

“You finally approach us as allies, and it’s over a dream?” ~~Cyborg~~ Cyberion asked, disbelieving. “Really?”

<The same dream. Every night,> said the hawk.

The squirrel nodded again. <Someone calling out from under the ocean. Someone who needs our help. We didn’t even know we were dreaming the same thing until last night.>

“What happened on the last night?” asked ~~Starfire~~ Superstar.

The hawk and the squirrel exchanged glances. <Nothing,> they lied.

“You’ve never dreamt the same thing before?” asked Nightwing.

<Have you?> the cat snipped. Rachel, probably. She was still the only one of the “Andalite Bandits” to be identified or offer any name to ~~the Teen Titans~~  Heroes Against Control.

He spread his hands. “I’m just trying to cover all my bases.” He looked to ~~Raven~~ Pride. “You’re the resident expert on these kind of things. What do you think?”

She frowned. Well, he couldn’t see that she was frowning, since she was hidden by her entirely shadowed cloak, but she _sounded_ like she was probably frowning. “It is impossible to guess from such little detail. This could merely be traumatic nightmares based on shared experiences. Especially since only two out of five are receiving the message.”

<We are not traumatised,> the cat snarled. <And we don’t have nightmares.>

“Really?” asked Superstar, excitedly. “What do you do to prevent them?”

Everyone looked at her. Then, the animals looked away.

Pride cleared her throat loudly. “If I could resume? If I would be allowed to isolate the dreams in their subconscious memories, then I could--”

The dog was immediately at attention, standing with his tail raised. <No one is climbing inside anyone’s head.>

Pride nodded. Or, rather, her hood moved in a way that suggested that she might have nodded. “Alright. Then, allow me to describe something to you. You can tell me if it sounds familiar.”

<What?>

“You’re under the water,” she said. “A lot of water. So much water that it’s almost black above. But around you is surrounded by artificial light. You're not _in_ the water; you're in a bubble. There is grass under your hooves. _Your_ hooves. The grass is thinning, dying, and in some places you can see metal grating beneath. You are absolutely desperate, and you use every ounce of energy to call out for any help at all.”

The squirrel and the hawk looked at each other, but the dog raised his hackles and growled. <I said no climbing in anyone’s head!>

“I didn’t,” said Pride. “I have had this dream as well.”

The hackles lowered. The dog looked at his friends. The squirrel and the hawk stared back, and the dog then sat down.

“Uh, are you just going to keep sitting there silently?” asked ~~Beast Boy~~ Changeling. “Because it’s kind of awkward.”

“They are using private thoughtspeak,” said Superstar. She was too happy understanding the circumstances to notice the animals' irritation with her. “It is a natural Andalite ability. It must be part of the morphing technology so that the Andalite communication abilities are not hindered by their choice of form.” She squeaked, eyes wide, and looked to Pride. “It is another Andalite ability to send whole images and feelings! I believe it takes quite a lot of energy and is largely used in emergency situations, but they can do it!”

The osprey was glaring down at them now. <You think we sent ourselves messages?>

Superstar shook her head emphatically. “Even if that part _is_ enabled by morphing ability, I do not think untrained humans could accomplish it in their natural form after being granted morphing ability only a month ago,” she said, seemingly not noticing the slight insult, though her tone did suddenly grow more serious. “What Pride described matches the description of an Andalite dome ship, which they would need to send when traveling such a distance as from their homeworld to Earth, due to Andalite claustrophobia and feeding needs. If the dome ship needed to maneuver in battle, it would have disposed of the dome portion.”

“And any Andalite inside it!” Changeling realized.

<Why would an Andalite reach out to Cassie, Tobias, and Raven, specifically?>

Everyone glared at the osprey.

<I’m sorry, I mean our two mysterious friends here and “Pride” who totally doesn’t look like anyone else we know, especially not a member of the team we contacted. Come on, it’s private thoughtspeak, and all these non-names are getting confusing.>

“Well, not to be insensitive,” said Nightwing, gesturing to the hawk, “but he’s a… what did you call it?” he asked Superstar.

“Nothlit,” said Superstar.

<Yeah, that’s not insensitive at all,> said Tobias.

“And Ra-- Pride!” Nightwing quickly corrected himself, but not fast enough to avoid being glared at by four glowing red eyes from under the dark hood. “Stuff like that is right up her alley.” He shrugged. “As for… the squirrel… I don’t know your friend that well, but I’m guessing there’s something similar that sets her apart?”

Cassie looked away, but Rachel came up and nudged her. Rachel glared challenge at them. <She’s the best morpher of us,> she said proudly. <Obviously a better connection to the morphing ability puts her more in tune with them.>

Superstar and Pride exchanged glances. “Obviously,” whispered Superstar.

<The thing is,> said the dog, <we’ve already tried investigating it. But our dolphin morphs won’t go far enough-->

<And a shark tried to eat us,> the osprey reminded him.

The dog’s eyes narrowed, and he darted a look over his shoulder. < _And_ a shark tried to eat us, > he amended. <Plus, we’re pretty certain there’s Yeerks out there.>

<We need help getting deep enough to find this dome,> said the osprey. <We need to not get trapped or squished or eaten by Yeerks.>

“Yeerks do not--” But Superstar seemed to suddenly think better of her argument and settled instead for crossing her arms and shoving out her lower lip.

Nightwing nodded and glanced to Cyberion before explaining, “We were about to go investigate a villain called Trident who’s been active just off the Bay.”

“I’ve been working on the T-Ship to take us down,” he said. “If I go back now, I might have it done as soon as this afternoon. Do you know where the dome is?”

<Not a clue,> the squirrel admitted. <We’ve been trying to follow half-remembered dreams and any recurring ‘signals.’>

Pride turned to Cyberion. “I may be able to give you something to aim for, but I still do not know its specific location.”

“I don’t need a spot on the ship!” Changeling bragged, briefly sprouting tentacles to show off. “One of them can have my seat!”

<We wouldn’t need it either,> said Cassie, <if we could find some deep water morphs. Maybe you could help us with that, Changeling? If you don't mind? Or maybe if you could just get us closer before we morph dolphin?>

Changeling scratched his head. “How do you ‘find’ a morph?”

“Genetic acquisition,” said Superstar. “They need to touch an animal to acquire its DNA.”

Changeling scowled. “Let me get this straight,” he said, holding up his fingers. “They can only turn into things they touch, they can only do it for two hours or they’re stuck forever, they have to change back to their base form before they can choose a different animal, it takes at least a couple minutes to do, _and_ they have no control over the process?! Who would invent something like that?”

<At least we’re not green,> said the osprey.

Changeling glared at him.

<Excuse me. I meant fuschia.>

<How do you even know that color?> the cat demanded.

<What? Fuschia's privileged information now?>

Nightwing turned to Changeling, ignoring the arguing cat and bird. “Can you help them?” he asked.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Changeling grumbled.

Nightwing nodded toward the animals. "Then sneak into the Tower in a few hours. We'll turn the cat off for you."


	2. Chapter 2

A few hours later, kids showed up in the main room. They were just there, lounging on the couch and in the floor, when Robin walked in. They were even younger than he’d expected, now that he could see them clearly. They all wore mostly-black, skin-tight morphing suits, but the design and accent color was different for each one. They all also had slightly different black domino masks over their eyes. The only difference among them was the red-tailed hawk perched on the blond’s shoulder. He was not wearing a uniform or a mask.

They looked exactly like the sort of amateurs that they were, and this fact was only highlighted when the introduced themselves as Rachel, Jake, Tobias, Cassie, and Marco.

“You’re all either very smart,” Robin had said, “or very stupid.”

Marco had replied with a shrug. “You found Rachel easy enough. If you haven’t already, you could find the rest of us with only a little more effort. So, there’s no point in trying to hide our names from you. We don’t plan on giving any names to anyone else, seeing as how they all think we’re Andalites. We can all use private thoughtspeak. So there’s no real point in making up names just trip over them in the middle of battle.”

“Don’t be fooled by the attitude,” Cassie had said with a kind smile. “He argued the opposite side for a whole hour.”

Eventually, Robin and Beast Boy took them down to the garage where Cyborg then told them that it would be another couple hours due to an adjustment on the design. Raven and Starfire came down soon after, and, after many awkward exchanges… eventually the two groups warmed up to each other.

Starfire watched as Marco mapped out on his abdomen to Beast Boy where he’d been gutted by sharks and Hork-Bajir, bragging proudly. Robin happily spoke of tactics and logistics to Jake, who eventually called over Marco. Cassie seemed perfectly content listening to Raven meditate while Tobias preened on her shoulder.

Rachel peeled herself away from questioning Cyborg and admiring his abilities to approach Starfire. “Hey,” she greeted.

Starfire smiled brightly. “Hello, new friend!”

Rachel laughed. “Do you greet everyone that way?”

“Only new friends,” Starfire said, confused.

“No, I mean…” Rachel shook her head. “Nevermind.”

Starfire toed the concrete floor self-consciously. “I, um, heard you talking to Cyborg. You said you particularly enjoy being a cat?”

“Yeah! No, it’s great,” Rachel said, brightening. “It’s just so graceful and strong! Suddenly, I’m not the world’s worst gymnast anymore.” She laughed. “I could be an Olympian if I wasn’t a cat!”

Starfire blinked. “Why are you not good at the gymnastics? If you like it?”

Rachel scratched her arm. “Well, we can’t be good at everything we like, Starfire. Some of it is talent, and I guess I have a decent amount of that, though not really above average, I think. A lot of it is hard work, and I’ve done that. But then, some of it is biology. And you just can’t help who you are. I’m getting too tall. Too... full. I can’t balance right anymore.”

“If you wish to improve, perhaps you could request advice from Robin?” she suggested, pointing to where their leaders were in deep discussion.

Rachel raised an eyebrow. “Robin’s a gymnast?”

“Well, no, but he is a fighter who uses many of the techniques I have seen on the television's gymnastics programs,” said Starfire. “I think there is enough similarity for advice? He is good! When he is on a wire…” A soft smile spread across her face. “When he is on a wire, I come to realize that I know nothing about flying.”

Rachel smirked and glanced at the caped hero standing with her cousin. Her eyes then migrated to Cassie and Tobias. “Yeah, I think I get that.”

Starfire smiled at Rachel then. “It would be alright, you know. To ask him? We do wish to be friends. Allies. We could help each other. Anything you ask.”

Rachel raised her eyebrow again. “Yeah?” She nodded toward the rest of the group. “Yeah, I think they do.” She returned her attention back to Starfire. “But you were standing here totally alone until I approached you. And then you kept trying to shove me off on Robin--”

“I was not--!”

“Hey, I get it!” Rachel assured her, raising her hands. “Not everyone gets along. Especially right off the bat. We don’t have to be friends. That’s fine, whatever. But alliance goes both ways, and I sure see you Titans putting a lot of the pressure on us, like it's on us to make this work.”

Starfire looked away, guiltily. "That is not what we think," she said quietly.

Rachel studied her for a moment. “Do you think we don’t want to be your friends?”

Starfire frowned. “I suppose you could say that some of it is biology. That we cannot help who we are.”

“Hey!” called Cyborg. “T-ship’s ready! All on board!”

Robin excused himself from Jake and came over to them. Rachel ran off to say goodbye to Tobias and go over the plan with him. “Hey,” Robin said, approaching Starfire. He glanced around, but everyone was migrating toward the ship. “You know you could sit this out if you wanted. Maybe accompany Tobias?”

Starfire’s stomach was boiling, but she pretended not to notice. “No,” she decided. “My place is with my team.”

Robin squeezed her shoulder in support. “It definitely is,” he assured her. He was grinning.


	3. Chapter 3

The ship rocked slightly as the dark blue whale emerged beside the T-sub. “We have got to adjust that hologram,” said Cyberion. “Dark blue is not that off from the color blue whales are supposed to be.”

“Maybe Marco can teach him how to turn strange colors,” Rachel teased from her spot on the left side of Superstar’s chair.

Marco had plenty of space in Changeling’s cockpit after Changeling had dove out to transform, but he was, in fact, sickly-looking. “I want it noted that if I die, it’s Jake’s fault.”

“Marco, I’m the one that insisted on this mission,” Cassie said quietly. “In fact, we had a conversation about that.”

“Yeah, but you’re cuter than he is, so I’m going to blame Leader Boy.”

“Since when am I the Leader?” Jake demanded.

“Oh my god, Jake,” Rachel started, but Cassie interrupted.

“We need out,” she told Cyberion. “I can’t navigate further without echolocation.”

“I thought you didn’t know where it was,” Pride drawled next to her, and Cassie blushed.

“She got her directions from a whale,” said Marco.

“From a whale?” Nightwing repeated.

“Well, I didn’t want to say anything; I wasn’t sure I’d be able to use it,” she confessed. “But now that we’re down here, I know. I recognize it as if I had been here. If I morph, I’ll be able to echolocate our directions.”

“Alright, opening the bay hatches,” Cyberion said, pressing controls. “You can climb down from the cockpits.”

“Ha! Have fun being awkward, losers!” Marco teased before dropping out of his seat into the barrel-like belly of the T-sub. Jake quickly followed him, and Robin immediately stretched out his arms and legs in relief.

“Sorry about this,” Cassie whispered before trying to scoot past Raven’s legs. She was surprised to find the legs suddenly gone, and the cockpit filled with shadow. “Oh cool!” she said before dropping into the bay after her friends. Lastly, Rachel joined them.

“Last?” cried Marco. “Rachel the Great was last in line to go do something stupid?”

“Valuable lesson, Marco?” she said. “You don’t just push aside a lady when she’s a bit in your way. _You_ move around _her_. Politely.” She grinned broadly. “Especially when she could punch you into the Earth’s core.”

Nightwing cast a glance to Superstar, who was blushing through her hologram and sinking down in her seat. “I’m closing the cockpit hatches,” said Cyberion. “Tell me when you want me to open the outer hatch.”

Some really disgusting noises came over the com links, and Cyberion quickly reached forward and muted it. “Suddenly, Changeling almost looks refined,” Pride grumbled.

“Where is Changeling going?” asked Superstar, pointing out her cockpit window as the dull pink shark wandered off.

“I guess he found Trident!” said Nightwing.

Suddenly, they were blasted from behind. Thoughtspeak shouts of alarm rang through their heads. “Looks like Trident found us!” Cyberion groaned.

<What’s going on?> Marco demanded.

<Forget it. We’re already morphed. Cyberion? Dump us.>

“In a minute, guys!”

The ship tilted and rolled, resulting in more cries of alarm. The ship was hit again. “Cyberion, bring us about! Pride, get ready to fire!” Nightwing ordered. The ship made a swift U-turn. But no one could be seen.

“Where’d he go?” Cyberion demanded. They each peered forward through their windows.

“He is there!” Superstar cried.

“No, that way!” Pride protested.

“It’s him!” Cyberion cried, pointing.

Trident opened fire on the T-sub. Three strikes, and finally, one hit home. Alarms rang out in the cockpits. Animorphs shouted in their heads. “He can't be in three places at once!” Nightwing protested. “Head for that--!”

“The engines are fried!” Cyberion shouted. “We're going down!”

Trident continued barraging them with fire as they failed to make a single strike back. The sub was sinking and fast. Water was starting to come in. “Main power's down!” said Cyberion. “Hydrojets are toast, and we're leaking air!”

“Tell me something I don't know,” Nightwing snarled.

“Okay,” Pride drawled. “We're all going to drown.”

The sub fell, far too fast, down and down. Trident disappeared from view as Cyberion aimed them into a crevice in a poor attempt to delay the inevitable crash. “Bail the Animorphs!” Nightwing ordered. “Let's not bring them down with us!”

<I thought you guys knew what you were doing!> Rachel snarled as the hatch opened up and four dolphins tumbled out. They immediately dodged aside from the sparking, tumbling T-sub.

“Hull's starting to give!” Cyberion warned. “We sink much deeper, the pressure's gonna crush us.”

<Who’s talking?! Where are you?!>

<Great Ones!>

<Will you stop saying that?>

<No! Look!>

Two whales seemed to appear from nowhere, diving beneath the sub and then gently lifting it up out of the crevice. A figure appeared in front of them. <Hello, surface heroes. I’m Aqualad,> he introduced himself as a Changeling swam up to meet them as a violet squid. <Please, allow me to bring your vessel to safety.>

<Uh, no,> said Rachel. <We still need to get to that dome as of _yesterday_. >

Cyberion turned on the speaker. “Our ship is damaged, blondie. We’re not going anywhere that these whales don’t take us.”

Aqualad tilted his head curiously. <Something tells me that you are not dolphins.>

<No shit, Sherlock,> said Marco. <Do you guys even know this dude? He could be a bad guy! He could have set everything up!>

“That doesn’t make our ship less crashed,” Nightwing replied. “Team leader?” he asked.

At first there was no reply, but then Marco shoved Jake with his nose. <What?> he demanded. Then, <Come on guys, I’m not the leader.>

“One of you needs to tell me what the ‘Andalites’ want to do,” said Nightwing.

Jake mentally sighed. <We definitely need to get to the dome _now_. And you definitely need your ship fixed _now_. >

Nightwing nodded. “Changeling, accompany the Andalite Bandits to the dome. Aqualad, we thank you for your help and will be glad to go with you.”

Aqualad glanced at the dolphins worriedly as Changeling shifted into a bold yellow dolphin. <How will they know where to meet us?>

<I may have just gotten directions from your whales,> Cassie admitted.

Two of the dolphins seemed to be debating something, nudging at each other. Finally, Jake said, <Marco will go with the Heroes. We should mix teams. Watch each other’s backs.>

“Then go,” said Nightwing. “While you have air. We’ll be fine with Aqualad.” And he hoped that it was true.


	4. Chapter 4

Sitting back from the controls as the whales pulled them through the water toward whatever Aqualad had referred to as “safety,” Nightwing crossed his arms and glowered ahead, ignoring the water leaking on him. “They have no idea what they’re doing,” he said.

“Nope,” Pride agreed. She didn’t even need to ask what “they” he had meant. No one had been particularly impressed by the Animorphs so far.

“Then, I suppose it is a good thing that they have us to guide them,” said Superstar. “Every hero has an origin.”

“On a dangerous deep water mission?” asked Cyberion. “In the middle of a war? I’m not saying they shouldn’t be here, but this isn’t really a starter mission.”

“If you were in their place, could you be made to stop by the logic and concern of more experienced heroes?” she asked.

Nightwing smirked. “It’s never stopped us before.”

<Guys, dolphins can echolocate,> Marco snapped. <Which means I can hear _really well_ underwater. >

Nightwing sank down in his seat, his scowl growing deeper. Suddenly, they were thrown into darkness. “Cyberion?” he demanded.

“Lights don’t work, man,” Cyberion told him. “Nothing works. We’re lucky to have any air left.”

<It’s fine. They went into a cave. Aside from being a cave, nothing sketchy yet. There’s an opening coming up.>

Nightwing tensed and focused on the glimmer ahead as it slowly grew and brightened. Finally, they were brought up to surface inside a larger cave. Aqualad pulled himself onto shore and the whales turned under, depositing the T-sub roughly onto the “shore.” As Nightwing, Cyberion, and Superstar opened their cockpits, Marco finally surfaced, gasping and swimming very poorly to the shore. Pride evaporated from her cockpit and appeared in front of him, using shadowy tentacles to lift him up and place him on dry land. “Thanks,” he coughed.

“You can’t swim?” Aqualad asked, frowning.

“I can be a dolphin,” Marco grumbled. “It didn’t seem necessary.”

“You’re underwater!” Aqualad said, gaping.

Marco rolled his eyes. “Wow, you’re just full of pertinent observations, aren’t you? Good thing you're pretty.”

“Can we not fight?” asked Nightwing, climbing down onto the rocks. He turned to Aqualad. “Thanks for saving our butts back there. We appreciate it.”

Blushing heavily, Superstar nodded. “Oh, yes! Truly, truly, thank you so much for saving us!”

“I apologize for not coming to your aid sooner,” said Aqualad, “but we Atlanteans like to keep a low profile.”

“Atlantean?” Marco repeated, gaping. “Like Atlantis?”

Pride glanced at him, looking much more like Raven than she had been earlier. “You should stop looking like that before you get stuck.”

“What?” Marco demanded, raising an eyebrow in confusion. Pride pointed down at his webbed feet. Panicked, Marco looked at his hands, strung with a nearly transparent and greenish thin webbing. He swore under his breath and closed his eyes to concentrate. Slowly, the webbing melted away.

Nightwing scowled. “That happen a lot?”

“Just to me,” Marco grumbled.

Aqualad pointed to him in confusion. “Is this what an Andalite is? I did not understand that word.”

“No,” Marco said quickly. “Well, sort of. Look, we didn’t pick the name. So you’re Atlantean, huh?” he said, changing the subject with a bright smirk.

Aqualad nodded. He explained, “And so is Trident. He's the worst criminal in Atlantis, with an ego to match. Trident claims he's perfect in every way, so he thinks he can do whatever he wants.”

Marco laughed. “I think I know a guy like that.”

“This isn’t funny!” Aqualad objected. “He’s bad for both our worlds. He's already gained some kind of new power. It's like he can be everywhere at once!”

“If we have got the same aims, perhaps we can help each other!” said Superstar.

Aqualad frowned. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I thought you were here looking for something else?”

“The Andalite Bandits are looking for a giant dome,” said Raven, gesturing to Marco. “We gave them a lift. We’re here investigating Trident.”

Aqualad’s eyes widened, and he turned to Marco. “A huge glass dome filled with strange plants?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess. Why?”

Aqualad frowned. “I saw it during my hunt for Trident.”

\-- --

Ahead was a ridge. A sort of low hill. The Animorphs and Changeling sailed over it. Rachel gasped in surprise. They all saw it at the same time. Saw, but could hardly believe.

In front of them was a round disc, like a plate, maybe half a mile in diameter. It was filled with beautiful and strange plants in a fantastic landscape which swayed pathetically in the water, looking desolate and drained. Pieces were still drifting away. Around the disc was several tons of broken glass.

<No,> Cassie moaned, her heart broken. <Oh my god, no!>

\-- --

Three distraught dolphins surfaced inside Aqualad’s cave, beached themselves, and began shifting back. Changeling’s yellow dolphin surfaced behind them and popped into a blue humanoid form with simian features. Pride, Nightwing, and Superstar appeared to be waiting for them while Cyberion and a creature called Tramm fussed over the broken T-sub.

“So no luck then?” Pride drawled.

“You were expecting this?” Cassie asked, the first able to speak. Her morph gracefully melted away, briefly causing her to look like some kind of dolphin-like mermaid. The Titans could see what the Animorphs had meant about her being the best morpher as Jake awkwardly transformed arms first and Rachel's transformation started with her skin, hair, and eyes.

“Once we got here and explained everything, Aqualad understood what dome we were talking about,” said Nightwing, trying not to watch their transformations. “He said he’d found Trident destroying it just a few hours ago.”

“And where is our gracious host?” Rachel demanded, standing up and smoothing out her morphing suit.

“Where’s Marco?” Jake said, looking around.

Superstar shook her head. “Aqualad insisted on going after Trident. Marco did not wish to let him alone.”

“So he went along?” Rachel was shocked. “On a dangerous mission? Just him and a guy he blatantly distrusts?”

Nightwing shrugged. “The rest of us can’t fight in water. We tried to get them to wait for you all, but Aqualad was sure he didn’t need you, and that just made Marco more determined.”

Jake made a face. “Of course it did.”

Cassie turned to Changeling. “If you don’t mind… If you can turn into a shark, you might still be able to track their scent in the water. It was recently enough.”

Changeling flashed sharp teeth in a vicious smile. “Yeah, no way am I letting _that_ guy take charge of this mission.”

“Leave him alone, Changeling,” Cyberion said, looking up from his work. “He’s a nice dude. He helped us out.”

Rachel shrugged. “Some people would say that about Chapman. Doesn’t mean his daughter isn’t crying and lonely while he drags innocent kids down to the pool every day.”

Cyberion shot a look at Nightwing, who resolutely ignored it. “How would they even run an underwater pool?” he asked. “Aqualad would have to surface every three days, which would be noticed by a society as secretive as the Atlanteans.”

Rachel blinked in surprise. “Atlantis? Really?”

Nightwing sighed. “Yes, really. It’s a word of magic and alien invasions. Can we move past the Atlantis thing? They’re very private, apparently.”

“No kidding,” Jake mumbled.

“Even if he’s not a Controller,” said Cassie, “if Trident attacked the dome, then he may have the Andalite, and our rescue mission is still in action.”

“Yeah, the Andalite!” Changeling cried eagerly. “Come on, Nightwing, I want to help them! I didn’t come all this way just to sit in a cave!”

Nightwing scowled the sort of scowl he saved for when he was losing an argument.


	5. Chapter 5

“Your shoes really don’t morph?” Changeling asked, holding up red and white sneakers.

“Obviously noOW!” Rachel said, stepping on another sharp stone. “When do you think would be a good time to take ‘Nightwing’ up on that particular offer?” She used air quotes when she said it.

“I don’t know, ask St-- Superstar,” said Changeling. “She’s the only one who can make him stop making the face.”

“The face?” asked Cassie, and Changeling shifted his mouth into a long, thin line framed by exaggerated jowls in mimicry of Nightwing’s scowl. “I see,” said Cassie with an amused smirk.

“Yeah, Jake makes that face, too,” a strained voice ahead of them teased.

“Marco!” Cassie exclaimed, running up and hugging him while Jake scowled.

“See?” he said, smiling bloodily as he let his weight sink into Cassie’s arms. “Told ya.”

“I was planning on being happy to see you,” Jake said as he came over to help Cassie hold Marco up. “What happened?”

Marco laughed. It wasn’t a happy laugh. “You know that thing about Trident jumping around? Appearing to be in more than one place at once?” He pointed back the way he came. “There’s a reason for that.”

Almost on cue, dozens of Trident look-a-likes started pouring out into the chamber. “He cloned himself?!” Beast Boy cried, immediately transforming into a velociraptor.

Muscles ripped across Marco’s arms and chest, and his bloody wounds began to close. Black fur spread across his skin and silver fur down his back, but as Jake pulled away to morph tiger, he could have sworn, briefly, that his fingers had touched scales. <There’s more where they came from!> Marco promised. <There’s thousands! And Aqualad and Ax are stuck with them!>

Changeling ripped through the first line of Tridents. <Ax?> Jake asked. He charged into the fray as soon as he had his muscles and claws.

<The Andalite!> Marco answered as he knocked over Tridents with ham-sized fists as easily as a line of dominos. <Trident had stolen him! Thought he’d be valuable for something!>

Rachel’s elephant plowed through them even faster.

Cassie’s wolf snarled and ripped out the throat of the nearest Trident clone before leaping at another. Changeling stopped in his tracks and popped back into his base form. “Whoa! What was _that_?!”

The elephant reared and slammed its feet down onto more clones. Bones crunched beneath her feet, followed rapidly by a far more disgusting sound. <What was what?> Rachel demanded. <Come on, dinosaur up! We need to get into that chamber!>

“She just killed a guy!" Changeling cried. " _You_ just killed more!”

Cassie stopped in her tracks. Jake hesitated. <It’s a battle!> Rachel objected. <What do you expect us to do?!>

“Fight them!” Changeling jammed an elbow into the stomach of a Trident who’d tried to tackle him. “Knock them out! Get them out of the way!”

<There’s too many for that! They’re just clones!> As if to make a point, Rachel gored a clone with one tusk.

“Do you even know what a clone is?” Changeling shrieked, and Cassie began to back up, tail tucked between her legs. “It’s a person! A real person! Looking identical doesn’t make them any less individual and alive!”

<Yeah?> Marco demanded, <then which one of these individuals is organizing this dance? Take him down, and you won’t have to worry about your precious morals!>

“Are you villains?” Changeling demanded. “Are you actually villains?!”

“You want the boss?!” a Trident demanded, descending on the gorilla with his weapon bared. “Then take me on!”

Rachel lifted him off of Marco with her trunk and slammed him into the ground. He didn’t get up again. <Well, I guess that takes care of-->

“No, I’m in charge!” another clone snarled, taking a running leap at them. Immediately, three more followed, arguing the same point.

<Okay, so that didn’t solve anything,> said Marco, raising his arms to defend himself.

But soon, more clones charged forward, all claiming to be the true leader and the original Trident. They began fighting with themselves before they even reached the Animorphs. The Animorphs looked at each other, shrugged, and shuffled around the fighting clones. Changeling watched them go and, stomach churning, followed after them.

<Aqualad!> Marco called, pushing past Tridents. <Axa… whatever! Andalite!>

A Trident head rolled toward them. <We could use some help,> came a reply. Changeling leaned over and threw up.

<You get used to it,> Marco reassured him. He paused briefly to put one huge gorilla hand on Changeling’s shoulder.

Changeling immediately shifted into gorilla as well and shoved him aside He shifted back and shouted, “I don’t want to get used to it! You’re sick! We’re never going to be like that! Heroes don’t _do_ that!”

An elephant trumpeted and began clearing the way for Aqualad and the Andalite, who was slightly smaller and bluer than Elfangor had been, to follow back to the waterway. Marco backed away a step, giving Changeling some much needed space. <I know you don’t want to hear this,> he said privately, <but we’re not here to be heroes. If we gave a shit about that, we’d have names and nicer uniforms and be a lot more known. We’re here to save our asses. We’re here to stay alive. We’re here to rid our planet of an alien war by any means necessary.

<Anytime you real heroes wanna take over, you’re welcome to.>

Marco turned and fled after the elephant, who was slowly shrinking. They were all demorphing in the midst of battle in order to shift into water morph by the time they reached the bank of the cavern. One stab of Trident’s namesake weapon, and Changeling was running after them.

They dove into the water, rubber skin spreading, dolphin snouts stretching, limbs blending into fins and tails. The half-dolphins had to carry the Andalite a ways as he failed to swim partially morphed, trying to get him out of the way of the dozens of clones spilling in after them. Finally, his hammerhead shark morph took up a defensive position.

<Ahead!> Cassie called, and Changeling saw the tunnel opening up into open water. A shadow began to loom over it, and, for a moment, he thought they were dead meat. But then the object came into view. The T-sub! It had been fixed!

The dolphins, shark, and Aqualad darted past just as the T-sub fired. The rocks at the entrance collapsed downward, sealing the cavern away.

The Titans all cheered and congratulated each other, welcomed the Andalite, and thanked the Animorphs. Changeling’s dolphin smirked.

<I’m sure they have everything they need to survive alone in there,> Rachel snarled privately, her words like a dagger in his chest. <Good job, _hero_. >


	6. Chapter 6

<You’re back!> said the red-tailed hawk perched beside the Tower’s underwater access pool. It was entirely possible that he had not moved since they left. <Where is everyone?>

The T-sub glided into the docking clamps, and Changeling shoved open his cockpit canopy far too eagerly. “We can’t fit an Andalite on the T-sub,” he explained, hopping out. “So they’re swimming in with him.”

<You found an Andalite?!>

“Yes,” Superstar said brusquely. She slid down off of the ship and landed awkwardly. She turned back to Nightwing. “I am going to gather the Animorphs’ things so they can go home as quickly as possible.”

Nightwing paused in climbing out of his cockpit, staring at her. “Uh…”

“Great idea!” Changeling exclaimed, almost growling despite the happy, eager tone. “I’ll help you!”

Nightwing glanced back at Cyberion, who only shrugged before hopping off the T-sub to land next to Pride. Nightwing turned back to Superstar and Changeling. “Did something happen?”

“Not yet,” Superstar mumbled. She began pulling the kids’ discarded outer clothing up off the floor and folding it neatly.

“It’s nothing,” growled Changeling, placing a folded shirt out neatly on a bench.

Tobias watched them carefully, then fluttered his wings and looked to Nightwing. But Nightwing just mimicked Cyberion's shrug.

A few minutes later, four dolphins and a hammerhead shark surfaced. The kids demorphed and swam to the edge, then helped hold the Andalite up while he demorphed. Pride’s shadowy tentacles grabbed him and lifted him up when they failed to get him out of the water. Nightwing handed them each towels to dry off.

“It feels good to be human again,” Jake said. He immediately quietened when Tobias dropped onto Rachel’s shoulder while she dried her hair.

“Oh, Jake,” Marco teased, stretching his limbs. “You were never exactly--HEY!” he shouted as Changeling threw a sweatshirt at him. “What the hell, man?”

“You guys need to run home soon, right?” Changeling asked. “Go play innocent?”

“Hey!” Nightwing barked. “Cut it out!” He looked between them. “What’s going on with you two?”

“Nothing,” Changeling snapped, gathering up the Animorphs’ clothes. He shoved each bundle roughly into their arms, ignoring surprised, guilty, and angry expressions.

“A nothing you started,” Marco grumbled.

“Shut up,” Changeling snapped.

“It’s all good and well playing the moral high ground when you’ve got someone else in the mud, but back before we showed up? At the construction site?” Marco challenged. “I saw what you did.”

Changeling blanched beneath his hologram. “That was different! That was an accident! We didn’t know--!”

“What, you don’t know what screaming means?”

“Please, stop!” Cassie screamed. Marco turned and saw that she was crying. “Please, _please_ , stop yelling about this,” she sobbed desperately. His anger flooded out, and he was left with only his guilt. Jake and Rachel went to her side, Tobias hopping over onto the Andalite’s shoulder.

Superstar put her hand on Changeling’s shoulder. “Come,” she said. “They will go with their Andalite soon and--”

“Uh, _our_ Andalite?” said Jake. “I’m pretty sure he’s his own Andalite, and what am I supposed to do? Put him in the guest room?”

Superstar’s eyes widened, looking almost scared, and she turned to Nightwing. He shook his head. “We can’t keep him here on any long-term basis, but we can help find somewhere safe.”

Cassie wiped her face with her towel. “I-- I--” she struggled through choked-back sobs. “I have a f-farm near the… the woods. We can hi-- hide him there. If… If that’s okay?” She looked to Aximili.

"That still doesn't deal with how we're going to get him there," Marco said, sighing. "It's a long walk. People are gonna notice a big blue deer with extra eyes and a scorpion tail."

"I don't think you know what scorpions look like," Changeling grumbled under his breath, and Nightwing gave him a sharp look.

<I must morph,> Ax said.

"Yeah, but into what?" Rachel wondered.

To their surprise, Ax reached out and touched Cassie’s face. <With your permission,> he said.

Superstar raised an eyebrow. “Your solution is kissing?” she asked, crossing her arms and growing tenser. Under the Andalite’s touch, Cassie seemed to suddenly calm down.

Ax turned one stalk eye toward her. <By touching the face, I may study the facial feature in more detail, as I am told that is the most differentiating factor for humans.>

"Um… excuse me, but you're going to morph Cassie?" Marco asked. "Can you do that?"

Ax responded by touching Marco’s face. Marco seemed almost ready to protest, but then he also suddenly calmed down. It was starting to become clear that his intention was to somehow morph from a sampling, and next he moved on to Rachel, and then Jake.

And then he reached for Superstar.

“No!” she cried in disgust, turning away from his touch. His tail flashed, and a slower person would have been killed, but she swatted it away as though it were no more than a fly.

“Whoa!” Jake shouted. “You’re going to kill people if they don’t--?!”

<This is not a person!> Ax objected, arching his tail back again in what was obvious preparation to strike. <This one is a Controller!>

Changeling gasped and yelled, “STARFIRE WOULD NEVER--!”

“Please stop,” said Superstar, glancing back at him briefly. She stared down the Andalite. “You are mistaken, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. A Controller is _controlled_. Involuntary. Puppeted. It began as a word among Yeerks for what once was so unacceptable as to be a crime, though I am certain that you were never taught that in an Andalite Military academy.”

She stepped forward, eyes blazing and hands on her hips. His tail twitched, but he did not yet act again. The Animorphs watched her with wide eyes. Changeling was confused and looked between those gathered in panic. Pride and Cyberion both had their arms resolutely crossed, watching the situation unfold with steely gazes. Nightwing’s hands were on his belt.

“The fact is that you and your friends have spoken to _both_ Phyzzon 355 and I without notice. Nightwing can inform you that he has seen me free and still voluntary. My teammates can inform you that I have fought opposed to the Yeerk Empire and have volunteered information to aid the cause.”

<Teammates that might very well be Controllers themselves!>

“And these Animorphs?” she asked. “Do you see them fit to believe? Ask what they have seen of my actions.”

Ax’s stalk eyes turned toward the Animorphs while his main eyes stayed focused on Superstar. Cassie fidgeted nervously. “It’s true,” she said. “She saved your brother from the crash site.”

Superstar blinked in surprise. “Brother?”

<Only for him to die,> Tobias reminded Cassie, ignoring Superstar.

“You can inspect the remains if you really want to,” said Nightwing. “Of course, the actual reason why we saved them was so that the Andalites could give him a proper burial.”

<You would have me believe yourself loyal to Andalites, Yeerk, and yet you turn from my touch?> Ax challenged, determined.

Superstar snarled. Actually snarled. For a brief moment, they could see a flash of razor-sharp teeth. “I have never claimed such! It was I, Starfire, who turned from your touch, not Phyzzon! My genetics are not his to give or withhold!” She pressed the button that turned off her Supergirl-mimicking hologram, revealing her orange skin and Tamaranian-style clothing. “But whatever common enemy we may have, whatever goals we may require of each other, however much I may understand that you are an individual capable of your own thoughts and decisions and not wholly responsible for those of your leaders, I will never, _never_ offer Tamaranian flesh as an Andalite tool after your kin abandoned us for death!”

Ax’s tail lowered slightly.

The glow disappeared from her eyes, and she shifted her weight into a more defensive stance. One Ax remembered from videos of Gedd fighting from earlier in the war. “And let _me_ tell you, I would never fight _for_ an Andalite,” Phyzzon seethed. “I rebelled against the Andalites because I love my people. And I rebel now against the Yeerk Empire because I love my people. You Andalites are too proud to understand this. You cannot fathom that we might love ourselves as much as you love yourselves. That we might respect ourselves enough to desire to be out from under your glorious hooves, where you do so love to place us. I do not expect you to understand this love. Perhaps it is beyond you. But any fool can _see_ it! Can see that I would fight tooth and nail, with the help of my _companion_ , for a better Yeerk life than a pit of slavery and death at the bottom of the Earth!”

Ax’s tail tensed, and Phyzzon stepped forward again.

“When you have lost what Koriand’r has and when you have sacrificed what I have, not for the sake of superior orders but for what you know in your heart is right, then, Aristh, perhaps you will have the experience and judgement that might give you the right to throw around callous accusations,” Phyzzon snarled. “Until then, I have no need of your childish opinions.”

The Animorphs watched, stunned and dumbfounded, as Phyzzon/Starfire/Superstar stormed out of the room to the stairwell, slamming the door behind them. Nightwing glanced around at them and crossed his arms. “Ax, I think you have enough human DNA to leave now, correct?” He took a deep breath and continued, “I understand this revelation may mean the end of any alliance, but not by us. I hope you understand that our purpose, interest, and motivation is still with the protection of this planet, and if and when you need help with that in any way, our doors and resources are still open to you.”

Cyberion nodded. “But, that said, given tonight’s events, I don’t think it’ll surprise you to be told that we will be turning the cat on, and we will be increasing security in Starfire’s room.”

“I think you can see yourselves out,” Pride grumbled. She took Changeling by the arm and guided him toward the elevator. Nightwing and Cyberion followed after her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I recognize that Starfire's minor shape shifting in the cartoon was metaphorical, in the style of anime, but mademoisellePlume and I thought it added an interesting element to her abilities, so you'll see it occasionally mentioned as an actual thing, such as in the scene above.


	7. Chapter 7

“Whoa, hey!” Robin protested, grabbing the bundle of… well, he wasn’t really sure what all was in the mass of objects Starfire was hauling out of her room. “What’s going on?”

“I should not stay here,” she said with a tight expression. “My… My situation compromises the team, and none of you want--”

“Hey!” he interrupted, putting as much force as possible behind stopping her from moving forward with the bundle. She didn’t seem to notice. “Hey, Starfire stop!” She stopped. Exactly as she was, with the large bundle between the two of them and obstructing most of the hallway. His lips quirked up at the edges in hint of an amused smile. “Star, maybe you should put that down.”

“I hope you understand, Robin, that I do not currently wish to face you.”

Robin sighed. “Look, I understand why you’re upset, and I think I have some idea of what you’re afraid of. But no one is sending you out. If… If you want to leave, I won’t stop you. But I... right now, I need everyone downstairs.”

Slowly, the bundle lowered, and Starfire peaked meekly out over the top. “What is downstairs?” she asked.

Robin smiled fondly. “Your team.”

\-- --

“I told you that we couldn’t trust them!” Marco snapped, back at the barn. “They know who Rachel is! They have our names! They have a good idea of what we look like! And they’ve got a Controller with them!”

Cassie flinched. “They said she’s not--”

“I don’t care what she said!” Marco snarled. “Even if she is voluntary, she’s still a Yeerk! We can’t trust her!”

“Voluntary,” Rachel spat. “What kind of person would even do that? You ask me, it means we trust her even less than a regular Controller.”

“‘Could punch you into the Earth’s core.’ That’s what you said,” Cassie reminded her friend. “She doesn’t _need_ to be nice or pretend for us. Every one of them could easily take us down or drag us into the Yeerk pool. So why would she pretend to be good?”

<Because that’s what they do,> Tobias snapped. <They sneak in under the radar and trick you and play with your emotions because a sympathetic host is an easier one. That’s probably what Phyzzon did to Starfire. It’s probably what it’s doing to the rest of them right now. Tell them, Ax! You know about Yeerks!>

Four eyes and every single one was inspecting the barn and not looking at the gathered Animorphs. Finally, he replied, carefully, <That does appear to their method on this planet.>

\-- --

“Let’s start at the top,” Robin said, standing before the Teen Titans in the windowless workout room. He turned to Beast Boy. “What started this fight? What happened between you and them?”

Beast Boy’s ears drooped, and he played with his fingers nervously. “I, uh… Well, you know the Trident clones, right?” Robin nodded. “Well, there were a lot of them. Like… a lot. Way more than you saw from the entrance. And, uh, when they morphed… They killed some of them. Many of them. The Andalite did, too. And from the first kill, I got upset, and I tried to make them stop, but they refused. Rachel… just to make a point, and…” Beast Boy pulled his knees up to his chest. Raven put her hand on his back. She didn’t pull him close or offer soft words, she just let her hand rest awkwardly on his back.

Robin sighed and sat cross-legged across from him. “Beast Boy… I understand how you feel. I do. The way I was raised, death is always deplorable. Always. But… Even he... The truth is, it’s not always avoidable.”

“It wasn’t an accident!” Beast Boy cried. “They did it on purpose!”

“I know!” Robin said quickly. “I know. But…” He sighed and pushed his hand through his hair. “Look, I… I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Since the Taxxons.” Each of the Titans were surprised and sickened in their own ways to be reminded of the incident. “What… The way I…” He paused and attempted to organize his thoughts. “The way I was raised, the way I think many of us were, was that killing someone is the worst thing anyone can do. And I guess it is. It’s not our job to weigh the value of someone’s life. You start thinking like that… you’re already gone.

“But it does happen. You were right, probably, to be angry with them, if they were being too callous. You’re right to demand they take responsibility for their actions. But… One day…” Robin shifted uncomfortably. “Even the people we look up to… Many of them… Most of them have killed, at some point. Some by accident. Some on purpose. Some more often than others. Some have watched good people die, get… mutilated… because they refused to kill.

“And it’s what happens in war. A war is all about literally choosing that these people should die while those people shouldn’t. And that’s what the Animorphs signed up for. That’s why they’re ready to kill, because that’s what they’re living. And I don’t know if that’s right or not, I really don’t. I do know that if we’re not willing to carry the bloodstains of war, then we’re leaving five younger, inexperienced newbies to do it alone. I do know that even if we decide to just stick to heroing and trust the Andalites to take care of their own mess, that the issue will probably still come up again. _Someone_ will escalate. Someone will be too dangerous. Someone, somehow, may eventually die at our hands.”

He looked over his team. At stone-faced Cyborg, watching him carefully, and quietly whirring. At Beast Boy, squirming restly. At Raven, who seemed to be hanging on his every word. At Starfire and Phyzzon, sitting off by themselves, staring at Starfire’s hands, and staying so quiet and still that they seemed to be imitating Raven’s meditations. And he said, “I can’t tell you what to do. This is… very individual, I think. But if we keep fighting, we have to take responsibility for what that means.”

\-- --

“What do you mean quit?” Rachel demanded.

“I just think that… that maybe we need to think about…” Cassie stumbled over her words.

<Think about what?> Tobias demanded.

“I mean, um, what Beast Boy… Changeling… whatever…”

“What he said wasn’t true,” said Jake. “He was lashing out. Being competitive. You’ve seen how he is.”

“Jake, he threw up,” she said. “We’re people who make other people throw up.”

Marco shrugged. “I threw up at the construction site.”

“Yeah, that’s… that’s kind of my point, Marco,” Cassie said quietly. Marco just looked at her in confusion. Then, slowly, his eyes widened. He looked away.

\-- --

“Which leaves us with the Yeerk problem to discuss,” Phyzzon muttered, and Starfire crossed her arms protectively.

Robin glanced at them. “You’re not a problem, Phyzzon,” he said, and Phyzzon was surprised. Robin had not directly addressed him before, and he hadn’t thought a human could learn the difference between symbiotic personalities, especially so quickly. “Starfire said you’ve been here as long as her? That you two were together when we met her.”

Phyzzon nodded slowly, watching Robin carefully.

“Then that makes you a member of this team,” Robin said. “As much as Starfire is. Assuming you want to be.”

Starfire’s hand flew to her mouth. “Rude!” she cried. She blushed to see her friends looking at her strangely. “Um, Phyzzon… I am afraid that he does not believe your welcome. He thinks that you are being polite, but he-- We understand that you are uncomfortable,” she explained, looking down at her hands.

“OH!” Beast Boy cried suddenly. “This is why your personality swings so much, and you talk to yourself! I thought that was an alien thing!”

Starfire raised an eyebrow. “An alien thing?”

“Well, uh, y’know,” said Robin, pushing his hand through his hair again, “the Tamaranian emotion thing?” When she looked at him with confusion, he blushed and looked away. “It’s, uh… It’s what I thought, too. Until the construction site.”

“Did you all make this assumption?” Starfire asked, still confused.

“Until I heard you talking to each other a couple weeks back,” Cyborg confessed. He looked away guiltily.

Raven shrugged. “I just thought you were annoying.” She ignored Robin’s chastising glare. “Formerly.”

“Look, Star,” said Cyborg. “Being uncomfortable doesn’t mean we don’t like you. This is new, and unexpected. But you have the right to be yourself… _selves_ with us. We’re your friends. We want to know the real you, to learn to be comfortable with you. You don’t have to do that, if you don’t want. I can get why you wouldn’t. But we’d appreciate it if you did.”

Phyzzon tensed when Beast Boy threw his arms around their shoulders, but Starfire relaxed and smiled. “Please stay!” Beast Boy pled. “We’d miss you!”

\-- --

“Maybe…” Jake sighed and rubbed his temple. He could already hear the angry arguments coming. “Maybe we should just… take a break.”

“Take a break?” Rachel demanded. “Take a break? Do you think the Yeerks are going to take a break? You think they’ll--?!”

“No, Rachel, I don’t,” Jake snapped. “But we’re five-- six kids. And Tobias can’t morph anymore. Just now, he can barely fly. And we’re all angry and upset. And we’re probably about to have the Titans hounding us again. But we can’t fight if we’re not a team. We need to settle this out, and I’m getting the idea that’s not gonna happen today.”

Marco snorted. “Are we gonna vote on that?”

“Yes, Marco, we always vote on it,” said Jake. “I’m not Robin, okay? I’m not your boss. I’m just… proposing a temporary solution.”

“Well, I vote that everyone sucks it up and keeps focused on what’s actually important,” Rachel snarled.

“Agreed,” said Marco. He crossed his arms determinedly. “And it’s important that I see tomorrow and keep what remains of my family together.”

“It’s important that we save the planet!” Rachel yelled, jumping to her feet.

“I think it’s important that we can keep looking ourselves in the mirror,” Cassie said quietly.

Rachel wanted to tell her that wasn’t a problem, but somehow, the words didn’t come out. Instead, she said, “We aren’t important.”

Marco shook his head. “I vote for the break.”

“Well, I don’t,” said Rachel.

<I don’t either,> said Tobias.

“I do,” Cassie whispered.

“Ax?” Jake prompted. “You’re with us now. What do you think?”

<I must follow the orders of my prince. I will not offer my opinion.>

Jake scowled. “Please don’t call me that.”

“Forget this,” Rachel said, storming toward the door. “I know a break up when I see one.”

“Rachel, that’s not what--!” But Jake was cut off by a slamming door. Well, as much as big, heavy sliding door could slam. Tobias flapped out the loft window after her.

Cassie looked at him worriedly. “That’s not what this is, is it?”

Jake looked to Marco, who shrugged. “Man, you know what I’ve got to say about that," Marco groused, "and you know you don’t want to hear it.”

Jake bowed his head into his hands. “It’s just a break. A breather. We just need out of each other’s hair for a while,” he said.

He hoped that it was true.


End file.
